Bird flu and import bans: what poultry meal and feather meal buyers should check

Bottom line

In the last week of October 2026, Hong Kong suspended poultry meat and egg imports from four areas in Denmark, the United States and the Netherlands (Hong Kong Government, 27 and 29 October 2026).

These bans name one municipality or one county, not a whole country. This is regionalisation, or zoning, in practice. For poultry meal and feather meal, the picture is less simple. The WOAH standard treats rendered meals as safe, but the importing-country rules we found in Asia still set their own HPAI and heat treatment conditions. Before fixing a lot, buyers should check the outbreak dates, the location of the plant and its raw material, and the exact wording of the health certificate.

Two kinds of rule in this note

• Importing-country rule: a text issued by the importing country’s authority. This is what the port officer checks.
• WOAH standard: an international recommendation in the WOAH Terrestrial Animal Health Code. It does not apply at the port by itself. Under the WTO SPS Agreement, a country may set stricter conditions if it has a scientific basis.

What happened in late October 2026?

Two Hong Kong decisions, two days apart, show how these bans usually look:

Date	Areas suspended	Products	Source
27 October 2026	Lolland Municipality (Denmark); Jackson County, Minnesota (United States)	Poultry meat and products, including eggs	Hong Kong Government press release, 27 October 2026
29 October 2026	Guldborgsund Municipality (Denmark); Westerkwartier Municipality, Groningen Province (Netherlands)	Poultry meat and products, including eggs	Hong Kong Government press release, 29 October 2026

The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) acted after notifications of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza. On 27 October, the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration reported the Lolland case and WOAH reported the Jackson County case. On 29 October, the notifications came from WOAH. The suspensions took effect immediately.

Bans of this kind are also lifted by area. In April 2026, the CFS lifted an earlier suspension on poultry and poultry products from Næstved and Lolland municipalities after the incident there was resolved (CFS, 22 April 2026). Lolland was then suspended again in October.

The Hong Kong notices are about food, not feed. They do not mention poultry meal or feather meal. They are still a useful signal: they show which areas had active outbreaks as of 29 October 2026, and other importers watch the same WOAH notifications.

What is regionalisation, and why does it matter?

Regionalisation means an importing country restricts trade only from the affected part of the exporting country, not from the whole country. The WOAH Terrestrial Code supports two tools:

• Zone. An area defined by geography. A country can create a containment zone around linked outbreaks, so that the rest of the country can keep trading (Terrestrial Code, Article 10.4.5).
• Compartment. A group of farms or plants defined by management and biosecurity, not by a map line. WOAH describes the difference this way: zones are based on geographical boundaries, compartments on management practices and biosecurity (Terrestrial Code, Chapter 4.5).

The Code also sets a recovery time. If a free zone has an outbreak and the country uses stamping out (culling infected flocks), the zone can regain free status after a minimum of 28 days from the disinfection of the last affected farm, if surveillance shows no infection during that time (Article 10.4.6). Without stamping out, the general rule of 12 months without infection applies (Article 10.4.3).

Importing countries are not required to accept zoning. Each decides whether to ban a county, a state or a whole country, and for how long. This is why the same outbreak can close one market and leave another open.

What does WOAH say about poultry meal and feather meal?

WOAH standard. This is the point many buyers miss. In the version of the Terrestrial Code we read (Chapter 10.4, most recent update adopted in 2024, version dated 17 June 2024), Article 10.4.2 lists “rendered protein meal, blood meal, feather meal, and poultry oil” as safe commodities. For safe commodities, veterinary authorities “should not require any conditions related to high pathogenicity avian influenza, regardless of the high pathogenicity avian influenza status of the exporting country or zone.”

Earlier editions were different. The 2018 Code had a specific article for feather meal and poultry meal (Article 10.4.24). It asked that the product came from a free country, zone or compartment, or that it was processed by one of these methods:

Method	Condition
Moist heat	At least 118 °C for at least 40 minutes
Continuous hydrolysis	At least 3.79 bar of steam pressure, at least 122 °C, for at least 15 minutes
Alternative rendering	Internal temperature throughout the product of at least 74 °C

These three values still appear in several national rules and certificates, as the next section shows. The WOAH Code is an international recommendation. Importing countries may set stricter conditions, and the importing country’s own rule is what the port officer checks.

How do Asian importing countries apply it?

Importing-country rules. The “Text date” column shows how old each source is. A rule may have changed since that date.

Market	What the rule says for poultry meal and feather meal	Text date	Source
Thailand	Import from a country with suspected HPAI, or an outbreak reported to WOAH, within 12 months of the last outbreak is prohibited, unless the product meets one of the three heat treatments above and there is evidence it did not contact outbreak sources. The origin plant must also be approved by the Department of Livestock Development (DLD).	2017 notification, described in a DLD presentation posted in 2020	DLD presentation hosted by WOAH Asia-Pacific
Malaysia (Peninsular)	Raw material must come from a part of the country or state free from Newcastle disease and avian influenza for the past 12 months, and the meal must be heat treated by one of the three methods. The plant must be approved by both the exporting country and DVS Malaysia. This DVS document covers poultry meal for non-food-producing animals (for example pet food) only; it does not open the livestock feed channel.	Revised 12 January 2021	DVS Malaysia
Hong Kong	Suspensions by municipality or county, based on WOAH and national notifications, for poultry meat and eggs (food, not feed; shown for comparison).	27 and 29 October 2026	CFS and Hong Kong Government

Three patterns stand out:

• Country-level 12-month rules. Thailand’s text, as described by the DLD, speaks of the country, not the zone. One outbreak can start a 12-month window, unless the product meets the heat treatment and contact conditions.
• Area-level rules. Malaysia looks at “part of country or state”.
• Two diseases, not one. Malaysia asks for freedom from Newcastle disease as well. This matters now: Brazil’s agriculture ministry reported a new Newcastle disease case in Coronel Freitas, Santa Catarina, inside the restriction area set after a first case confirmed on 18 October 2026 (MAPA, 25 October 2026).

Points to watch

Before fixing a lot, keep three things in view. First, the dates: the last outbreak in the origin country and region, set against the rule of the importing market. Second, the paperwork: the health certificate should state the heat treatment in the words the importing market uses, and it should be issued close to the loading date. Third, the exit: agree in advance what happens if a ban starts while the cargo is at sea. Check the current wording with your importer.

MANTA view

This is MANTA’s reading of the facts above. It is not legal advice.

• The standard and the rule are not the same. WOAH now treats rendered poultry meal and feather meal as safe commodities. The national texts we found still use the older heat-treatment values. Plan with the stricter rule.
• Zoning helps, but only where the importer accepts it. The same county ban can mean nothing for one market and a 12-month stop for another.
• Time is the main risk. Bans start with immediate effect. A lot that left the port before an outbreak can still face questions on arrival. Clear paperwork made before loading is the best protection.

We will update this note as importing countries publish new texts. If you see a different practice at your port, we would be glad to hear your view.

General market information only, based on the cited sources as of their publication dates. Not legal or trading advice. Verify requirements with the veterinary authority of the importing country and your importer before shipment.